Solidarity
by Moving Mountains
Summary: The Teen Titans' solidarity is put under strain when one of the team is critically injured during battle. Is the blame for what happened misplaced? Or does Raven deserve all the grief she's at the receiving end of? [one-shot]


The moon was smiling down over Jump City, California, on that November night as it supervised the stars; clouds drifted across the dark sky over the conspicuous T-shaped tower located in the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast of the overpopulated urban area where crime never slept. On the roof of Titans Tower, Raven – arguably the most powerful of the Teen Titans – watched the waves below her attack the sandy shore as the wind whipped her violet hair against her face, although her mind was elsewhere: relaying the fight they'd lost just hours before…

* * *

_Dust. Debris. Destruction._

_"Beast Boy!"_

_"Where is our friend?"_

_"BB! Answer me, man!"_

_"Adonis got away."_

She had said nothing, too afraid that the shivers raking her body would escape in her voice and reveal just how afraid she was at that moment – when his green hue was nowhere to be seen and blame strangled her throat while panic played mind-games.

_"I ordered you both to wait for back-up."_

_"How could you let this happen? You were with him; you should have been paying closer attention!"_

_"I tried, but-"_

_"But Beast Boy could die because of you!"_

Tears filled her eyes as she remembered how angry Cyborg had been before he roughly shoved her away from him. Luckily, Robin was standing behind her, else she fall to the rubble-littered concrete. His hands quickly grasped her arms, shocked that the metal teen had pushed her. He leaned towards her ear.

_"It's not your fault."_

She didn't believe him hours ago. She didn't now. Always in leader mode, Robin's voice didn't falter when he'd tried to reassure her of her innocence but that didn't stop her being eaten alive by the ill-feeling that what happened was because of her actions on the battlefield…

"_Robin! I have located Beast Boy!"_

_"On our way."_

_"He is in the bad shape. I shall go and prepare the infirmary."_

_"Raven can heal him; she's the reason he's like this!"_

_"Cyborg, shut up!"_

_"Don't defend her! If she didn't lose control like she did then we wouldn't be in this damn mess!"_

_"Getting angry is not going to help Beast Boy so either assist or help Star set up, but stop insulting Raven."_

She had watched from a short distance as the boys carefully extracted Beast Boy's limp body from under a chunk of debris. They placed him down delicately. Cyborg glared at her, her invitation to come forward and use her demonic powers to magically heal her broken teammate – her friend. She placed her grey hands on his bleeding torso, desperately trying to hide the fact she was shaking – after all, her emotions had caused this – and found her centre. Sighing, her hands began to glow with onyx energy. Immediately, the blood beneath her fingers began to clot; the dirtied green skin started to stitch back together; the deep gashes on his arms melted into thin lines. She could feel herself weakening from the effort: sweat perspired on her forehead; she was turning pale; her body began to dangerous sway. As the last of her consciousness was consumed by haze, two arms grabbed her once again and lowered her to the ground.

She'd woken up in the infirmary fifteen minutes ago, the constant rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor interrupting her unconscious state. There was no one in the room other than Beast Boy who was deathly silent but breathing – his toned chest rising and falling steadily. Relieved, she left her bed to stand next to his, grasping his hand in silent prayer to Azar that he would continue to recover. The boulder that crushed him should have killed him – would have if not for her – wouldn't have in the first place if she had been more alert. Footsteps echoed down the corridor. With just enough energy to teleport, she swiftly left the room.

* * *

Now she was here on the roof, alone and filled with worry. If anything more serious had happened, she wouldn't have been able to live with the guilt, especially with her friends around her adding to the negativity. Although they wouldn't admit it – well, other than Cyborg - they would have been mad at her. The Titans wouldn't be able to function as a foursome, not without their comic-relieving changeling.

"You should be in bed."

Stunned by the surprising voice, Raven jolted out of her hypothetical future, turning around to find Robin behind her, scowling down. She replied that she was fine.

"I don't care: you were very weak after healing and overexerted yourself. You need to rest."

His glare wasn't working on the dark Titan, who turned back to her view of the ocean. Sighing, he sat down on the edge of the tower next to her.

"You're the most stubborn girl I've ever met, d'you know that?"

She was growing tired of his patronising manner – a manner he often adopted as the leader of the team. "I know my own body, Robin; I'm a bit tired but I'll live."

"So will Beast Boy, so stop beating yourself up about him."

Shocked by his impromptu response, her eyes widened. "How did you-"

"You're not as mysterious as you think," he smirked. "Sorry to burst your bubble." He felt a bit better seeing her let out a small smile. "I could feel your anguish through our connection so I came to check on you. Again, not that mysterious; I checked your bedroom when I saw your vacant bed in the infirmary, which only left here."

"Are you sure it's not just that you're a great detective?" she smirked, playing up to his ego.

"Well, I was trained by Batman. He prepared me well."

"Or you could be obsessed with me: following my every move, knowing my hiding places."

"Obsessed is a strong word; I'd say 'intrigued'." Behind his mask, his blue eyes noticed her pale cheeks turn rosy, blushing at his remark. While she would think he was playing around, he was being serious: Raven had always intrigued him ever since they first met at the age of fifteen – on the night when Starfire came to Earth to escape a life of slavery and captivity from the dreaded Gordanians. Six years on, despite knowing a lot more about her past involving Azarath and her demon heritage, he still had many questions about his introverted teammate.

To her credit, since 'The End' (how the team referred to the day she'd sacrificed herself for Trigon) Raven had opened up a lot more to him and the others even though her emotions were still temperamental. He knew she was funny and clever-witted; she was concerned with her health, partaking in regular yoga and boxing sessions; she enjoyed movie nights with the team (as long as the movie wasn't a romantic comedy); she secretly liked Beast Boy's jokes because it shows he cares enough to make her smile – occasionally succeeding; she was extremely protective of them all despite being one of the youngest members; she was terrified of spiders. The list was endless. Six years of cohabiting a tower with a bunch of teenagers, it was hard not to pick up on their habits and behaviours.

"I'll prove I'm a great detective with one statement: you're stalling the conversation with humour because you're afraid to talk about what happened tonight." He knew he had her then; her eyes averted to the floor. "I want to talk about it though."

"What, so you can blame me too? I got enough grief from Cyborg!" she argued, getting defensive.

"So I can make sure you're alright." Raven was surprised by his answer. "Your powers don't go haywire without reason; I know something happened while you were both fighting Adonis and my guess it was something serious."

Raven tensed, pulling her cloak tighter around her…

_"The things I could do to you…"_

_"Get your hands off me!"_

_"I've always liked your feistiness. And those legs…"_

_"Don't make me kill you!"_

_"You know you want me…"_

_Hands. Hot breath. Harassment. _

She was shaken from her thoughts – literally. Green-gloved hands were on her shoulders vigorously shaking her. Her attention refocused on Robin, his mask turned up in concern. Seeing that she was no longer caught up in a daydream – or nightmare judging from the way objects on the roof had begun to explode – he let go of her.

"It's okay," he reassured the normally composed half-demon, watching as the atmosphere around them calmed once more. Her ebony energy dissipated back into her body, leaving her with a headache. She was still recovering from earlier and wasn't up to full strength.

"I've got a good idea about what happened but I need to hear it from you so I know whether to press charges or not." He hated seeing any of his friends get hurt but what he was imagining was another level. Adonis laying a hand on either Starfire or Raven was completely unacceptable. They were both attractive in their own ways, physically, mentally and spiritually but that was no excuse for them being mistreated. He hoped his thoughts were going off on a tangent but he had a gut feeling that he was right about this: during many fights with Adonis, he'd shown an interest in Raven and was more hands-on with her than the rest of them. Robin wouldn't put it past a sleazebag like him to overstep the boundaries: the only man in the city stupid enough to mess with a half-demon.

His fears were confirmed: Raven went on to explain that Adonis had sent Beast Boy flying, leaving her alone with the villain. He'd cornered her, holding her up against a wall. Her powers having little effect on him due to some suit alterations, he shoved aside her cloak and stroked the inside of her bare legs. The higher up he travelled, the closer she got to losing control. Before he could cause any lasting damage, her anger took over. Fierce as a lion, she roared and relentlessly swiped at Adonis, her emotions becoming more unstable by the second. The ground under his feet cracked; the building started to break away from its foundations, sending rubble falling in different directions like meteorites. In the distance, she could see her green teammate running towards her, frantically shouting her name. It was too late. Through four scarlet eyes, she watched as a heavy piece of the building collided with his human form, trapping him. He went silent... everything did.

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire had arrived at the scene and seen Raven furiously attacking the villain and Beast Boy worriedly charging towards her but then the dust distorted their vision, hiding their friend from sight. He remembered how his heart skipped a beat seeing him bloody and unconscious. Now he knew why. He didn't blame her for a second.

"I should have kept it together, Robin. Now Beast Boy is hurt." Far from being one to cry, instead Raven felt her eyes glaze over with tears which her pride refused to let leave the ducts.

"Raven, the bastard abused you! I don't blame you for losing control."

"He didn't though, he just touched me."

"Did you feel comfortable?"

"Of course not!"

"Then don't ever say 'he just touched me' again. Don't lower your self-worth like that. What happened to Beast Boy was an accident; he was collateral damage. The others will understand."

"Understand what?"

Both birds turned around at the unexpected voice. Cyborg was standing over them, his metal body glistening under the rooftop lights. Once he established that neither of them was about to start talking, the half-robot addressed Robin.

"I just came to tell ya that BB is still out and Starfire has gone to bed. She'll take over my watch in a few hours. I was also gonna say that Rae is awake, but I guess you already know that." He turned to face the girl in question, "You should be in bed." There was no concern in his voice like there normally would be when his adopted 'little sister' was medically incapacitated; It was more like he was simply stating a fact.

"Don't bother; I've already tried," Robin said, trying to diffuse any further tension between the pair. While he understood Cyborg's frustration stemmed from seeing his best friend hurt, it was a weakness that he took out his frustration on others; he wore his heart on his robotic sleeve and, until he was rescued from his ignorance, Raven was considered the enemy. Cyborg started to walk away before Robin jumped up and called for him to come back. Getting the nod from Raven, he explained what happened before they'd arrived at the scene. She avoided his gaze as he processed the information.

"I'll kill him! Have you included it in the report?"

"I was going to when we were finished talking," he explained, gesturing to their female friend. "The police will make sure he gets more time added to his sentence."

"Not that it matters; he escapes every few months anyway!" Cyborg punched the steel fence in front of him, splintering bits of metal around their feet. Finding his lost composure, he sunk down next to Raven and enveloped her in a suffocating hug. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time." Raven said nothing in reply, just grasped her forgiven friend tightly, finding security in his arms. He let her go, leaving one hand securely on her shoulder. "If I know ya like I think I know ya, you're being too tough on yourself. Now I know I didn't help with my pressure and all, but you saved his life. He would have bled out if it wasn't for you." The thought sent shivers down his artificial spine.

"Looks like Robin isn't the only detective here," Raven joked, smirking at Robin, who had been silently watching the interactions between the pair. His lips turned up with a smirk to rival hers.

"You're hilarious. After the Titans you should be a comedienne," he deadpanned monotonously.

Ignoring her leader, Raven returned her attention to Cyborg. "It helps knowing you're not mad at me," she confessed, suddenly feeling like she'd reverted back a few years into a younger, less confident version of herself.

"I was never really mad, just scared. B is my bro, y'know." Raven nodded, understanding exactly where he was coming from. She yawned, suddenly overcome by tiredness. The boys didn't miss her change in body language, especially Robin.

"Raven, it is late and you've been through a lot; you really should be back in bed." He swiftly stood up, offering her and Cyborg a hand. Together, they left the roof and ventured down to the infirmary. Although she'd rather sleep in her own bed, Raven knew they wouldn't settle for it. Besides, it meant that she could keep an eye on Beast Boy too. She had a lot of apologising to do for injuring him – accidently or not. The infirmary door slid open revealing Beast Boy asleep in the left-hand bed, the heart monitor still beeping. As Cyborg checked the statistics on the screen, Robin searched the drawers for some medicine for Raven's headache (knowing that her energy reserves were too low to simply heal the minor ailment.) Handing it to her, she swallowed the purple pills dry before unhooking her cloak from her sagging shoulders and collapsing onto the bed.

"Get some rest," he ordered, pulling the curtain closed to block out the light.

Raven overheard the men whispering despite them trying to be quiet for her benefit: they said that Beast Boy wasn't out of the woods yet because of bruising to his ribcage. At the time, she'd used so much power on teaching Adonis a valuable lesson on the consequence of manhandling women that she only managed to heal the more fatal injuries, such as the open wound on his side. Less life-threatening ones could wait until he was out of danger - but that was before.

Fighting fatigue, she waited for Cyborg to leave. She knew she only had a short window between Cyborg leaving and Starfire arriving to carry out her plan. Raven heard Cyborg call the Tamaranian via communicator to come down and relieve him. She could hear him fiddling with the equipment when his stomach rumbled loudly. She assumed he was checking to see if he could quickly grab a snack and leave Beast Boy alone, not knowing Raven was awake the whole time. He must have sided with his stomach. The door slid closed.

She drew back the curtain. Quietly, she stood at Beast Boy's bedside and willed every last bit of power she had regained since the fight to intervene in his pain. Unlike before, she couldn't see if her healing intervention was having its desired effect because the injuries were internal. After a minute, she could feel herself weakening once more but she refused to stop until Beast Boy was awake – a sign that his body wasn't under enough stress to stay shut down. Her ears started to ring and she could feel her body betraying her, pulling her under as if she was drowning in the same ocean she'd been admiring that night. Just before she hit the floor, two green eyes locked with hers…

* * *

The first thing she heard was the beeping of the heart monitor. Then, her other senses awoke from unconsciousness: the smell of antiseptic; the feel of the itchy infirmary bedding; the unwelcome taste of teeth in dire need of a brush; the sight of bright lights temporarily blinding her. Turning her head against the unwanted light, she groaned, her body stiff from being lain down for so long – she assumed anyway judging by her grogginess. The clock on the wall said three P.M.

_'Out for fifteen hours… no wonder I feel like crap.'_

"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty."

There stood Beast Boy, clothed in the unflattering attire of a hospital gown with a sling on his right arm, finally awake. She was so happy, she couldn't help but smile and hug him. The changeling – stunned by the un-Raven-like gesture – hugged her back, his head resting on top of hers.

"Robin is furious: you disobeyed his orders apparently."

"Robin doesn't scare me, you should know that by now," she retaliated.

"You should be scared! No one could wake you up after your rebellious healing session. We all thought you were-"

"Tone down the melodramatics please," she interrupted. But something in his eyes showed hurt and desperation, two emotions that he usually masked with humour which had no place on his naïve face.

"Raven… your heart stopped; you were literally dead for a whole minute."

He couldn't look at her as he said it. That minute had been the longest of his life. He'd woken up after hearing Starfire scream to see the alien crouched over the violet-haired demoness, who was sprawled on the floor. She looked so peaceful – the complete opposite of how the rest of them looked. Starfire had radioed for Robin and Cyborg immediately. Despite being healed, he still had residual soreness and physically couldn't leave the bed. Like a helpless caged animal, he watched as the others rushed into the room, cursing at the sight of Raven lying completely still next to his bed. Realising she had no pulse, Robin started CPR while Cyborg grabbed the defibrillator, getting ready to shock her between Robin's compressions. Starfire, not medically trained like them, decided to talk to Raven, begging her to wake up. Sixty agonising seconds later, Cyborg got a heartbeat. They'd got her back in the bed and taken vigil by her bedside until her body began to hover - the sign they'd been desperately waiting for that her trance had begun.

Raven was shocked by the news. She'd never healed someone so much so that she couldn't heal herself. She'd put her friends through Hell in the last twenty-four hours, causing a deep pain to grow in her chest – not knowing if it was from the turmoil she'd caused them or from the unfamiliar (and unwanted) feeling of electricity being used to restart her heart.

"Are you okay?" Beast Boy asked, pulling a chair close to her bed. Luckily, she was still weak otherwise the medical equipment that was currently keeping the ailed heroes company would have exploded, further adding to her misery.

"I nearly killed you, then I nearly killed myself trying to make things right again. If I hadn't let Adonis get close to me, none of this-"

"Stop!" he demanded, causing her to pause mid-sentence, "Don't you dare start blamin' yourself! I could smell the dirty pheromones on him from the moment he laid eyes on you. I should have taken him on myself the moment I sensed what his intentions were." His ears drooped, feeling regret for not being better prepared. "We shouldn't have initiated an attack in the first place, not without the others," he murmured as an after-thought.

She couldn't believe _he_ was apologising to _her_ when it should have been the other way around. He noticed, because he continued before she could have her say: "And don't apologise for hurting me either. It was a total accident; I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It could happen to any of us. Self-pity doesn't suit you."

"Neither does disobedience but that didn't stop you!" an angry voice added.

Robin, Starfire and Cyborg appeared at the open infirmary door, two of them relieved to see her awake while the other was too overcome with fury to show any positive emotion. Beast Boy stood up, his working arm jutting out to protect the bed-ridden beauty.

"Leave her alone, Dude! She's just woken up."

Beast Boy's command did nothing to ease Robin's ill-feeling. He stormed over to her bedside, locking eyes with her wide violet orbs as Beast Boy put his hands on his shoulders so he didn't get too close.

"Do you realise how stupid you were? How close we were to losing you this morning!" he whispered – which was even more dangerous than shouting. "You were ordered to rest so you could heal B when you had the energy! Not when you felt like it!" Unable to contain himself, Robin turned from her bedside and began pacing. Raven knew better than to respond despite her resoluteness that she wasn't scared of Robin.

Thankfully, Starfire wasn't as ignorant as she was when they'd first met. "I am glad you are awake, Friend Raven," Starfire smiled, gently hugging her. "Can I get you anything? Perhaps a drink; I imagine you are quite thirsty." Raven nodded, her rumbling stomach begging for sustenance. Starfire left, finally feeling at ease since the fight. Her teammates being in the infirmary always put her on edge, especially when they were as critical as Beast Boy and Raven had been.

Cyborg, who felt just as worried as Robin, didn't say anything. He just smiled down at her before taking on his role as medical practitioner to the team. He carefully examined Raven – specifically her chest – and determined that she would feel weak until her magic replenished but that her heart was back to beating in a normal rhythm.

Seeing that Robin had calmed down, Cyborg ushered Beast Boy out of the room using the excuse that he should go for a short walk less his muscles seize up. The latter didn't want to leave Raven but he could sense that he and Raven had a lot to talk about. The changeling was persuaded by Raven, who nodded in silent understanding that she would be fine. He took her unspoken word for it, cautiously exiting the room with his best friend.

Raven averted her attention to Robin, who hours before had been joking around with her on the roof. Now, he looked like he was afraid to touch her in case she broke. He took Beast Boy's place in the seat next to her bed. Silence filled the space until he felt ready to speak; Raven waited with anxious anticipation for what else the man she highly respected would say. She felt she'd been chewed up and spat out enough - once more wouldn't hurt.

"When I heard Starfire scream, I thought something was wrong with Beast Boy," He started, his voice louder than a whisper this time. "I was terrified that I was going to lose a friend." It visibly hurt him to say it, his hand running through his spiky black hair. "So to run down and see you lying there when moments before we'd been talking…" he couldn't continue. How could you put into words how it felt to perform CPR on a much-loved friend and teammate because their body couldn't support itself?

"Robin-"

"You _truly_ are the _most _stubborn girl I've _ever_ met, Raven!"

"I'm sorry I scared you," she continued, trying to get a word in between his.

"You should be. What were you thinking? Why didn't you stop?"

"I was thinking that a friend got hurt because of me and I had a duty to fix him. I didn't stop because the injuries were internal and I couldn't tell when to finish. I was down before I could figure it out."

Robin accepted her explanation. It didn't mean he appreciated it.

"You died."

"Believe me, that was not my intention."

Silence once again reigned over the two as they stared at each other, neither one knowing what to do in that moment. Robin finally caved, getting up and embracing his friend.

"Be more careful next time, okay?"

She nodded against his shoulder. Through their connection, she could feel him relax, the stress of the day disappearing. They stayed locked in each other's arms – like siblings reunited – until the others returned with food and warm wishes. Cyborg ordered Raven and Beast Boy to stay put in the infirmary until he approved their leave. Robin made it clear to both of them that they wouldn't dream of leaving the room.

With two members out of commission for the next day or two, Robin made the executive decision to enlist the help of the Titans North for the rest of week, allowing Raven and Beast Boy to fully recuperate without the added stress of knowing their team was at a disadvantage when the next alarm rang. Until that time came (inconveniently at midnight) the five heroes spent their time together in the room with the knowledge that they weren't getting any younger: they had to treasure their time as comrades for as long as they were all breathing and able. The five couldn't afford to let their solidarity slip - not for a second. After all, a city where crime runs rampant would always need a team of heroes; the Teen Titans planned on being that team for many years to come...

Solidarity: it requires trust; it maintains friendship; it establishes a team – much can fracture it but little can break it.


End file.
